Glutamine the Non Essential Amino Acid

Glutamine is one of the 20 amino acids encoded by the standard genetic cipher. Glutamine is called a non essential amino acid because it is the most prolific of all amino acids. It naturally occurs within our bodies and is one of the few amino acids that crosses the blood-brain barrier. It runs freely in our blood and is stored in the skeletal muscles. As it is one of the most abundant amino acids in the human body, you may then wonder why people would bother taking glutamine as a supplement.

As much as glutamine is available in the body it is also very much in demand by cells in the intestines, kidney cells, immune cells, cancer cells, etc. Glutamine is heavily marketed as a supplement for muscle growth because muscle mass is the biggest producer of glutamine and at times of hard training glutamine is highly depleted. During times of injury or illness glutamine becomes more in demand by cells trying to repair the damage. These are the times when additional intake from food or supplements is required.

Over the past 18 years Glutamine has been successfully used in studies for the treatment of illnesses, injury, burns, wound healing, etc.